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TV Cameras to Enter Courtrooms
September 12 2011
The televised sentencing of offenders in English and Welsh courts is being considered by the government. Broadcasters will be allowed to screen footage of judgments for the first time as part of plans to improve transparency in public services.
Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke will overturn an 85-year-old ban on filming in courts but has warned that theatrical displays will not be allowed.
Mr Clarke said he wanted to remove the ban "as soon as parliamentary time allows" so cameras could be used to film judgments first in the Court of Appeal and then in the crown courts. Filming would only take place of the sentencing, not the trials themselves or the verdicts delivered by the jury.
It will be the first time that cameras have been allowed in courts other than the Supreme Court since filming was banned by the Criminal Justice Act 1925.
A consultation process involving the Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge will now take place to ensure the move "does not hinder the administration of justice and that it protects victims, witnesses, offenders and jurors", he said.
Grahame Stowe, Senior Partner of Leeds Solicitors Grahame Stowe Bateson, commented, "The proposal is to be welcomed if it enlightens the public as to how a sentence has been arrived at, by limiting the cameras to the sentencing process only, the difficulty will be in understanding how a final determination has been arrived at, unless the Judge provides the fullest comments when passing sentence."